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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29543031">In Between</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/vans0nhead717/pseuds/vans0nhead717'>vans0nhead717</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Darker Than Black</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bittersweet, Drabble, F/F, F/M, Other, Sad, Sad with a Happy Ending</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:53:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,089</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29543031</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/vans0nhead717/pseuds/vans0nhead717</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Their star, not her star, hangs heavy in Amber's mind between Brazil and Tokyo.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amber &amp; Hei (Darker Than Black), Amber &amp; Pai (Darker Than Black), Amber/Hei (Darker Than Black), Amber/Pai (Darker than Black)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In Between</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Amber pays months, and then years to undo their deaths, over and over. And when Bai finally learns the truth, she’s lost so many years reversing the war that they only have one chance. It comes down to him or her, and Bai chooses to go with Hei, to bind herself to him, granting him protection from the blast that would have killed him, and giving up the life Hei fought so hard to protect.</p><p> </p><p>Bai, Amber, Hei and Carmine enter the sector that day. Her power radiates throughout the air, and as she gives Bai a gentle flick on the forehead, the girl turns to Hei, the shard in her hand. One chance, one use of Bai’s power, and Amber runs. She runs far, far away from the bright light, that beautiful unmoving light, trapped in place by Amber’s power. </p><p> </p><p>Amber emerges alone, losing years as the flow of time begins again and the light consumes the horizon. The growing expanse of light, blocking humanity out of Heaven’s Gate, and killing every human in the blast, except for <em> him. </em></p><p> </p><p>Carmine survives, and so do Bai and Hei, the only other contractors in the blast. She’s relieved when she sees their stars didn’t fall, and the knowledge that her star is now <em> their </em>star hangs heavy in her heart.</p><p><br/>From Heaven’s Gate, she goes far and wide. Amber can’t watch over them as much as she wants to, but their star is always the first thing she looks for when she steps outside. And it is <em> their </em>star.</p><p> </p><p>The love of her life, the one she’d give it all up for, Hei never leaves her mind, even as she fights for her life. She steals short glimpses into the future, and that serves as her only time with him between Brazil and Tokyo. </p><p> </p><p>Her best friend, her sister, the love she’d never see again, Bai’s face occupies her dreams every night. When she finally obtains the meteor shard, her monotone voice rings in Amber’s ears for the first time since the last Solar Maximum.</p><p> </p><p>The years Amber lived in between Brazil and Tokyo were countless, but for Hei, the five years he desperately searched for Amber and Bai were the worst years of his life. And she wished desperately, so desperately that she could give him answers.</p><p> </p><p>So she looks down the road, at every horrible eventuality that Hei would meet if she told him the truth too early. The millions that would die for her and Hei to be together, lives he could never unsee when he closed his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>She couldn’t ever do that to him. Everytime their star shines in the sky, she remembers the sad face Bai made as they watched Hei sleep. She couldn’t do that to Bai, couldn’t force her to watch her brother suffer under the weight of what he’s done. </p><p> </p><p>Every burst of light from BK-201 is a face that will haunt Hei, a life he didn't want to take, and so Amber reverses their death dozens of times as she gathers allies, preparing for Tokyo. She watches stars climb back into the sky, and washes blood off of her hands she couldn’t care less about.</p><p> </p><p>She meets Yin again, and the girl has no problem joining her. As they sit at the shrine, the explosion that signals Hei’s arrival cuts through the sky as Amber frowns to herself, giving herself a mere second to mourn Maki’s death before Hei arrives.</p><p> </p><p>She perfects her act, the sweet human girl he wanted so bad, but when she sees him that day, he sees right through it. And after his hand connects with her face, she speaks with the cold decisiveness of the contractor she had always been, the one he hated.</p><p> </p><p>“<em> If you could join us, join me.” </em> </p><p> </p><p><em> If. </em> If he could. But he can’t. The one time she was foolish enough to run with him despite her knowledge of the outcome, his mangled body stayed in the front of her mind long after she reversed his death. The fantasies of succeeding and running away with Hei only hurt her more as the peak approaches, and as she steps into the wall, the knowledge that she will never leave Hell's Gate hangs heavy on her soul, if she has one.</p><p> </p><p>The other members of Evening Primrose barely escape with their lives, or die horribly for a cause Amber knows she'll never see succeed. Brita manages to escape the truck containing their doll network before it’s destruction, saving one of the dolls and another contractor, her friend Kira, in the process. They’re the only members to escape both Tokyo and the destruction of EPR’s compound, a future that haunts Amber in the last nights before the Solar Maximum. Amigiri's face in the jungle is prominent in her mind, but she takes some comfort knowing Brita's fate.</p><p> </p><p>At least they got to see the future that their friends died for. Amber looks for just a moment, sees Brita's hand tighten around Kira's as they watch Amber's star vanish. She hears the doll reading messier codes, listing the survivors to the two contractors. Slight relief washes over Brita's face when she hears Amigiri's code, happy that he managed to escape.</p><p> </p><p>But when Amber looks away, she frowns at the knowledge that Amigiri's luck won't last. </p><p> </p><p>It doesn't matter though, none of them do. Because Hei is finally there with her.</p><p> </p><p>She holds out the meteor shard, and hears Bai calling to them. When she speaks this time, she makes no attempt to falsify her humanity, and Hei has no doubt that despite her appearance as a toddler, Tokyo’s destruction is an outcome she would have no qualms about causing. Her cold unfeeling voice doesn't match the words she says.</p><p> </p><p>"Do you wanna see Bai?"</p><p> </p><p>But she knows he wouldn’t do it, so she thrusts the shard into his chest, bringing that brilliant white light back as Amber froze time. When they finally see her again, Bai flashes Amber a knowing smile as the older woman walks over to her and takes her hand.</p><p> </p><p>“Goodbye, Amber.”</p><p> </p><p>Her body returns to that of the toddler she was just moments ago, and her eyes glow red as she makes her last price. His face is the last thing she sees before joining Bai in that world beyond the wall, watching the stars he so desperately wanted to see. Watching Hei from beyond the veil, no longer able to rewind what will come.</p><p> </p><p>She never leaves Bai’s side again.</p>
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